heyas; children move independantly of parents, so what you are experiencing is normal. you can lock the child object, which will prevent you from being able to drag it around by itself, away from the parent. (object:lock object). you can't make it so you can move the child and have the parent go with it. (peer to peer parenting, i suppose :) ) for the prop, you can change the pivot point in the info window (dunno the menu command, just hit ctrl-i). check the display origin. this is the 'center' of the prop, you can now grab it and move it, or it has trans dials that magically appear. the object will rotate around this center. if you need to change a body part center, use the joint editor window. select the body part, and choose 'center' in the joint window, and you should be able to see and move the center.