Parenting moves objects [Solved]

marble

I have a problem whereby I am placing objects on other objects (such as a table-lamp on a table) and then I drag the lamp so that it is parented by the table. This was not happening prior to the last few days but now I am finding that the translation, scale and orientation of the parented item is either reset to zero or is moved way away from where it was intended to rest.

I am pretty sure this has happened before but I can't remember how I got back to normal whereby I can drag an already positioned object into a group without having to re-scale and re-position it. Incidentally, if I drag a bunch of objects into a group they all pile on top of each other which, again, is certainly not what I want.

NVM, I must have changed the default in the Change Parent dialogue. The "Parent in Place" ckeckbox was un-checked.