java 一个值为null的vector对象执行.size()操作时报NullPointerException

代码片段如下：

class Node{
    public int val;
    public List<Node> children;

    public int getVal() {
		return val;
	}

	public void setVal(int val) {
		this.val = val;
	}

	public List<Node> getChildren() {
		return this.children;
	}

	public void setChildren(List<Node> children) {
		this.children = children;
	}

	public Node() {}

    public Node(int val,List<Node> children) {
        this.val = val;
        this.children = children;
    }
    
}

class Tree{
	Node rootNode;
	Node[] nodes=new Node[10];	
	List<Node> tempChildren=new Vector<Node>();
	List<Node> Children1=new Vector<Node>();
	List<Node> Children2=new Vector<Node>();
	List<Node> Children3=new Vector<Node>();
	List<Node> Children4=new Vector<Node>();
	Queue<Node> childrenQue=new LinkedList<Node>();
	
	public Tree() {
		// TODO Auto-generated construc