[mitchellm]

The answer to your question is "Yes." It's easy to draw things without Parent-Child relationships. Graffle is very adaptable and freeform.

You'd have to provide more information on what you're doing in Graffle. I don't need to do anything special NOT to have Parent-Child relationships. In fact, I need to specify them if that's what I want.

I'm guessing, and it's only a guess, that you may have something like "Auto lay out diagram" activated (see the Outline/Canvases window). If you have this checked on, and depending on the specific diagram style chosen, then you may have a sitatuation in which Parent-Child relationships are forced. Just uncheck this option and move things around if you want.

If that's not the issue, a little more info or even a picture of your graffle work may help us see the exact nature of the problem.