Actions not working

Hello,
I have a character model/armature with a walk cycle action that can run when a key is pressed.
when I parent the armature to another object, the actions no longer play when the key is pressed.
un-parent the two and the actions play just fine.

why is this? can I fix this?

Thank you kindly

.blend?

Its not enough information,

ok. I was working on a file to upload and it now seems to be working. thank you.

I am using a cube to slide along the surface on the ground with my character parented to it so that the character follows the ground when walking.