Clearing the stage

Is there a blanket command for removing all children from the stage? Here’s why I ask:

I’ve got a loop set up for generating menu items. It works. Let’s call it Loop 1.

And I’ve got a loop set up to remove those object then gotoAndStop back on a main menu swf. It works. Let’s call this Loop 2.

Basically I use a variable in Loop 1 to count the number of menu item children. Loop 2 takes that variable and goes through and removes that number of children.

Sometimes Loop 1 hangs (like once of every 30 times). So if someone tries to trigger Loop 2, things get SNAFU’d. Usually by gotoAndStop back to the main menu swf AND leaving extraneous menu items on the stage.

Is there a way to go about being sure all objects are removed from the stage so that it doesn’t matter how many children there are, some command that will just clear the stage of all children?

I can paste the code if someone wants to see it, but there isn’t really a problem with the code itself (or at least 29 of the 30 times there isn’t).

Thanks for any help.