>I have a user control added to a control to a control ... to a parent form. In the parent form code, I am reading a file and need to put the results of the file in a text box of my user control. So far the only way I have been able to see the control from the main form is to make it public.
>
>Is there a better way to expose the control to the parent form?

Create a public property on the user control. In it's set method set the internal control's value, ex.

public string Text
{
   set { this.txtSubControl.Text = value; }
   get { return this.txtSubControl.Text; }
}