Hi LIv, I think you are speaking of parallel play in healthier relationships, and in that respect, what you are talking about it would involve a healthy independence of one another. But in the paragraph where I speak about it, I say that my husband and I didn't have any emotional intimacy. That is what this article centers around. An unhealthy relationship where parallel play is not two happy bonded people doing there own thing. It's more related to co-existing without any emotional intimacy.