Volunteers Family Parent-child Relationship

This study treated parents of volunteer families at a educational foundation in Taiwan as subjects to analyze and explore the lives of parents of volunteer families before they became volunteers, their initial motivation for becoming volunteers, their motivation for continuing as work was volunteers, the experienced achievements of their participation in service learning, and personal changes and development resulting from learning experiences obtained by participation in service learning, as well as from their consequent understanding of life. Qualitative research method was adopted, and semi-structural interviews were conducted with volunteer parents who have served for more than three years. The interview contents were transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed. The research conclusions derived are as follows:(1) Influenced by traditional values and changes of time today, the world of volunteer families involve volunteer families in the roles of turning "I help others, and others help me. Everyone helps each other" value into a tide of improving lives quality and parent-child relationship.(2) There is diversity and clarity in the initial motivations of volunteer families which engage in volunteer services. These motivations include individual growth, family parent-child relationship, and completion of the mission in a particular life stage, and influences from social and national aspects. The content of their motivations is generally intimately correlated to their life contexts.(3) The motivation for continued participation in volunteer services by volunteer family parents arises from a sense that they have infinite power of their own. Also, due to the influence of strengthening positive external and internal factors, they continue bravely on the path of volunteering, and further influence their parent-child relationship.(4) The experiences of volunteer family parents in service and learning are diverse and abundant. Unlike other than learning professional service(5) training, in the service process they also learn differently, such as by observing others in actual practice, interactive learning among partners, being influenced by professional teachers, being influenced by the cases they serve, and self-advancement; all of these enrich the value of their life experiences, volunteer parents become the best model of life.(6) Through service, housewives open their hearts and horizons; through interacting with partners, they can see and redefine their personal life values. This further influences and transforms personal development, interaction and relationships with children in the family, the marriage relationship, and other areas in life.(7) After housewives participate in volunteer services, their rich service experiences and service accomplishments also result in significant and indispensable human resources for women’s organizations and for society. Consequently, deeper insights and hopes can be discerned for individuals and organizations. Finally, based on the results of this study, various suggestions are proposed for individuals, women’s service centers, and future research.