public function getSkills(Criteria $criteria = null, ConnectionInterface $con = null)
    {
        $partial = $this->collSkillsPartial && !$this->isNew();
        if (null === $this->collSkills || null !== $criteria || $partial) {
            if ($this->isNew()) {
                // return empty collection
                if (null === $this->collSkills) {
                    $this->initSkills();
                }
            } else {

                $query = ChildSkillQuery::create(null, $criteria)
                    ->filterByReference($this);
                $collSkills = $query->find($con);
                if (null !== $criteria) {
                    return $collSkills;
                }

                if ($partial && $this->collSkills) {
                    //make sure that already added objects gets added to the list of the database.
                    foreach ($this->collSkills as $obj) {
                        if (!$collSkills->contains($obj)) {
                            $collSkills[] = $obj;
                        }
                    }
                }

                $this->collSkills = $collSkills;
                $this->collSkillsPartial = false;
            }
        }

        return $this->collSkills;
    }