diff --git a/yaltik_dsl/src/xml_base.coco b/yaltik_dsl/src/xml_base.coco
index 15c0876..854d282 100644
--- a/yaltik_dsl/src/xml_base.coco
+++ b/yaltik_dsl/src/xml_base.coco
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def xmlroot(tree):
 def xmlchild(parent, children):
     """ Handling of children (ie non root) XML Nodes with/o text and
     subchildren (recursive) """
-    if isinstance(children, str):
+    if isinstance(children, basestring):
         parent.text = children
     elif isinstance(children, XMLDictElement):
         attrs = {str(k): str(v) for [k, v] in children.attrs.items()}
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ def xmln(tag='', attrs={}, children=[]):
         children = attrs
         attrs = {}
     xmldictel = partial(XMLDictElement, tag, attrs)
-    if isinstance(children, str):
+    if isinstance(children, basestring):
         return xmldictel([children])
     if isinstance(children, list):
         return xmldictel(children)