Time Equals Love -- And Why Your Showing Up Matters More Than You Know
I want to start with a thank you, and then I want to give you something to hold onto -- something to keep long after you close this page.
If you know me, you know MamaHen's favorite saying. Time equals love. Put that somewhere. Put it deep in your spirit. Time. Equals. Love. It is one of the truest things I know.
And nobody -- I mean nobody -- lives that truth harder than a parent of a student athlete.
What "showing up" really costs
Let me paint the picture, because I know you already know it by heart.
It looks like gassing up the car when the tank -- and honestly, sometimes the wallet -- is running on fumes. It looks like the drive across town for the 6 a.m. workout. It looks like standing in the kitchen cooking a meal so your baby has fuel in the tank before the game. It looks like the phone call just to check in. The text that says you got this. The thinking about them all day long even when you are supposed to be doing ten other things.
And here is the part that stopped me in my tracks. Researchers over at the Aspen Institute actually put a number on it. In their 2025 survey of sports parents, they found that the average sports parent spends three hours and twenty-three minutes on their child's sport on every single day their child has a practice or a game. Three hours and twenty-three minutes. The driving, the laundry, the meals, the sitting in the stands -- all of it. They said being a sports parent almost equals holding a part-time job.
Y'all, that is not a schedule. That is love in a uniform.
That's time. And because it's for you, that's love.
Here is what I need you to hear today.
When you are dropping everything -- cutting everything off, gassing up the car, coming to be with your child -- that is time. When you are cooking for them, calling them, texting them, thinking about them -- that is time. And because every bit of it is for them, that is love.
We do not always see it that way in the moment. In the moment it feels like exhaustion. It feels like one more drive, one more early morning, one more meal, one more mile on the car. But step back and look at the whole picture. Every one of those little sacrifices is you writing your child a love letter they will carry the rest of their lives.
So the next time you are tired -- and you will be tired -- I want you to reframe it. You are not just running yourself ragged. You are showing up. And showing up is the gift.
To the parent who feels unseen
Somebody needed to read that today, because being a sports parent can be a lonely, thankless kind of love. You pour and you pour and you pour, and a lot of the time nobody claps for you.
So let me clap for you.
You are not alone in this. Nearly every sports parent out there -- the research says about ninety-nine percent -- is right there with you, showing up in some way, attending the games, managing the rides, carrying the load. You are part of a whole family of parents who understand exactly what it costs and choose to pay it anyway. That is not small. That is sacred.
And when people are reaching out to you -- coming to spend time with you, calling you, texting you -- do not brush it off. That is love coming back to you. Receive it. You have earned it.
My thank-you to you
I could not write about time without saying this part out loud.
I am so thankful for the time you share with me. The time you spend on my lives. The time you give on my TikToks. The time you spend in my athletic home and world, cheering, commenting, and building this thing right alongside me. You did not have to give me a single minute of your day -- and you gave it anyway.
Time equals love. So by MamaHen math, every minute you spend here is you loving on me. And I feel it. I do not take it for granted, not for one second.
Before you go
Do me one favor. Think about who has been giving you their time lately -- and go tell them you see it. Tell them you feel the love in it. And think about who you have been showing up for, and know deep in your spirit that it matters more than you will ever fully see.
Then come back and tell me about it. Drop a comment. Tell me who you are showing up for this season. Tag the parent in the stands who never misses a game. Let's remind each other, out loud, that all this pouring we do is not for nothing.
Because it never was. It always was, and it always will be, love.
Time equals love. ❤️
Come spend a little time with me
If this spoke to you, do not be a stranger. Come on into my world -- more encouragement for sports parents, real talk about this athletic journey we are all on, and a whole family of folks who get it. Visit www.mamahen.org and let's keep building this thing together. Your time means the world to me, and I do not take a minute of it for granted.
Thank you, y'all.
MamaHen ❤️ says thank you.
