GMS2, when destroying a child, all children get affected. Parent object not functioning as intended - game-maker-studio-2

Question

I am having an issue with my parent object and its children.
My intention is to have an enemy spawner (child) that functions independently of other children spawners . The spawner will spawn enemies until the desired amount is reached and then be destroyed (child is destroyed). However, when I destroy an enemy spawned by my parent spawner object, all children spawners spawn an enemy instead. Example. I have two children spawnwers that spawn an enemy. When I destroy from child A, child A and B both spawn an enemy. Furthermore, when I destroy the required amount of enemies from the spawner, both A and B child spawners are destroyed except for just A child.
Below is code.
///PARENT SPAWNER OBJECT
PARENT STEP EVENT
if(enemy_dead_count <= 0){
sprite_index = sDestroyed_Ghost_Spawner;
if (sprite_index == sDestroyed_Ghost_Spawner){
if(image_index >= 9 && image_index < 10){
image_index = 9;
}
}
} else {
while(spawn_ghost == 0){
instance_create_layer(x,y+32,"Player",oEnemy_spawner_animation);
spawn_ghost += 1;
}
}
//PARENT CREATE EVENT
spawn_ghost = 0;
enemy_dead_count = 3;
The object, oEnemy_spawner_animation, is an object that scales its xscale and yscale and when reaches a desired size changes the instance to oEnemy_ghost
//ANIMATION CODE BELOW
//animator create event
image_xscale = 0;
image_yscale = 0;
//animator step event
if image_xscale <= 1 {
image_xscale += 0.008;
image_yscale = image_xscale;
} else{
image_xscale = 1;
//update yscale
image_yscale = image_xscale;
instance_change(oEnemy_ghost,true);
}
In the Enemy Parent , I wont post all the code as it is quite extensive but ill post the relevant
if(hp<=0){
instance_destroy();
with(x,y,oEnemy_ghost_spawner){
spawn_ghost = 0;
enemy_dead_count -= 1;
}
}
Above, when an enemy is destroyed, I use the with statement to spawn a new enemy.
I am targeting the child here instead of the parent , perhaps that's the problem?
I have a feeling I need to somehow tie the enemy spawned ID to the child spawner ID, but I do not know how to achieve this.
Any thoughts on how to achieve my intended functionality? How do I make my children spawners function independently of eachother?

Answer 1

With the with() function, you'll go through every object of that type. I think if that includes a parent, it'll affect the children as well.
A possible solution could be to:
Make another child of the current 'parent' function, and use the current parent as just a base of the enemy spawner that'll affect all enemy spawners, and not an entity of itself.
make a boolean that'll only be set to true for the parent (like isParent), and set it to false for it's children.
if you want to make each spawner unique of each other, then you could try giving them an unique ID, and inside the with() function, search for that unique ID if it's the one you're looking for.