Variable goes out of scope in the child thread when parent thread returns

ok guys,
a quick newbie question:

how do i pass a variable into a thread when i still need that variable AFTER the parent thread returns. after hours of experimenting, i found the problem is when the parent thread returns, the variable in the child thread (formally passed by the parent thread) goes out of scope and disappears....

A few ideas i thought of

1) use static ?? i am now too sure on this

2) use a gobal variable?? i think it still goes out of scope too
anyway this is not very elegant method

3) anything???


in summary:
- a user interface thread starts a worker thread
- user interface thread returns so that the program doesnt freeze
- worker thread still needs to work around with the variable
<-- problem with the retaining of the variable when user interface thread goes out of scope


using
- visual c++ 6.0
- win98SE
- API, dont know much about MFC till i learn more on the basic APIs that make up MFC

Use new to dynamically allocate the variable. delete it when you are done.

thnx for your valuable suggestion.
This is what i did:

Code:

---

        char *thread_buffer;
        thread_buffer = new char[];
        thread_buffer = (*(start_thread_parm*)thread_parm).comd;  // dynamically allocating the variable as suggested
        SetEvent((*(start_thread_parm*)thread_parm).continue_broadcast_handle); // tells the parent thread that i have finished copying the parmeter to the child thread and it's ok to continue to return

---

This is the class of "start_thread_parm" summarized

Code:

---

class start_thread_parm{
public:
{
char *comd;
HANDLE continue_broadcast_handle;
}

---

is this the way to do it?
i keep getting the same problem when the parent thread returns, ie. the variable goes out of scope when the parent thread returns.
thread_buffer becomes empty after the line "SetEvent((*(start_thread_parm*)thread_parm).conti nue_broadcast_handle); "

I am doing something wrong here. any help plz?