How to transform a child's position and rotation independently from their parent?

Hello!

I'm creating a 3rd person multiplayer game using Mirror and every single tutorial I've seen requires the camera to be parented under the player object's prefab.

This is infuriating because my entire player movement and rotation is based on the way the camera is facing.

 private void HandleRotation()
 {
     Vector3 targetDirection = Vector3.zero;
     
     targetDirection = cameraManager.cameraTransform.forward * inputHandler.verticalInput;
     targetDirection += cameraManager.cameraTransform.right * inputHandler.horizontalInput;
     targetDirection.Normalize();
     targetDirection.y = 0;
     
     if (targetDirection == Vector3.zero)
     {
         // keep our rotation facing the way we stopped
         targetDirection = transform.forward;
     }
     
     Quaternion targetRotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(targetDirection);
     Quaternion playerRotation = Quaternion.Slerp(transform.rotation, targetRotation, rotationSpeed * Time.deltaTime);

     transform.rotation = playerRotation;
 }

For example: If I'm in game and looking to the right of my player model and then press 'w' to walk in the direction the camera is facing, my camera will spin with the player keeping the same rotation while my player spins in order to try and walk in the direction the camera is facing.

Ideally, I would like to find a solution that doesn't require me to parent the camera to the player model, however I can't find one, so instead I'm looking to be able to move the camera's transform independently to the player.

This is how I handle my camera rotation:

 private void RotateCamera()
 {
     Vector3 rotation;
     Quaternion targetRotation;

     // lookAngle = left and right input
     lookAngle += (inputHandler.cameraHorizontalInput * cameraLookSpeed);
     // pivotAngle = up and down input
     pivotAngle -= (inputHandler.cameraVerticalInput * cameraPivotSpeed);
     // limit rotation so we can't look in the ground etc.
     pivotAngle = Mathf.Clamp(pivotAngle, minimumPivotAngle, maximumPivotAngle);


     // Setting the rotation for y axis
     rotation = Vector3.zero;
     rotation.y = lookAngle;
     targetRotation = Quaternion.Euler(rotation);
     cameraHolderTransform.localRotation = targetRotation;

     // Setting the rotation for x axis
     rotation = Vector3.zero;
     rotation.x = pivotAngle;
     targetRotation = Quaternion.Euler(rotation);
     cameraPivotTransform.localRotation = targetRotation;
 }

It's worth noting as well that I am using 2 different gameObjects parented underneath the player object as a sort of camera holder for individual axis' (One of which is a parent and the other is a child). The camera gets parented to the child gameObject on Start.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated! Thank you <3