Two fixed weeknights each, then alternating long weekends. The same amount of time as week about, with no gap longer than five nights.
One parent always has Monday and Tuesday nights. The other always has Wednesday and Thursday nights. Friday, Saturday and Sunday alternate, so each parent’s weekend runs into their own weeknights and becomes a five-night block. Over two weeks the children spend seven nights in each home.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | A | A | B | B | A | A | A |
| Week 2 | A | A | B | B | B | B | B |
A and B are the two homes. Monday–Tuesday is always A, Wednesday–Thursday is always B, and the weekend alternates.
Families with children of primary-school age, where both homes are close enough to the school for either parent to do the morning run. It also suits parents whose working week has a fixed shape, because the same two weeknights come round every week and can be planned around.
The weekdays are predictable. Tuesday swimming is always from the same home, and so is Thursday homework. No gap away from either parent is longer than five nights, against seven with week about. Each parent gets a long weekend every second week, which is where most of the unhurried time happens. And because the two fixed pairs sit on school days, most handovers can go through school rather than face to face.
Four handovers a fortnight is twice as many as week about, and each one is a chance for something to be forgotten, from the sports kit to the reader. The weeknights never swap, so one parent never has a Monday evening and the other never has a Thursday, which matters if an activity falls on a fixed night. The five-night block needs both homes to be set up for school mornings, not just weekends. And for a very young child, five nights can still be a long time away from one parent.
Write down the time and the place for each direction, because they are often different: school on Wednesday morning, the other parent’s door on Friday evening. Agree what travels with the child and what stays in each home. When something has to move, send one message with the new time rather than a conversation, and keep the next week on the pattern.
Some families swap which pair each parent holds every term so neither is stuck with the same nights forever. Others add a dinner on one of the five nights so the gap feels shorter. A 2-2-3 arrangement, where the weekdays rotate as well, is the usual step down for younger children, and week about is the usual step up for older ones.
You set the rotation once and it runs: the calendar shows who has the children on any day, in both homes, with holidays and special dates laid over the top without touching the pattern. Each changeover has its own time and place, each way, so there is nothing to re-agree on a Thursday evening. When the long weekend has an expense in it, the receipt is logged against the right day, by the parent who paid.
Yes. It is the same fortnight read from a different starting day. Some orders and apps write it one way, some the other.
Four in two weeks, or two a week. On school days the handover can happen at the school gate, so the parents do not need to meet.
It is most often used from the primary-school years onward, once a child manages five nights away comfortably. For toddlers and preschoolers many families start with 2-2-3, which has the same weekday shape and shorter gaps.
Yes. Over two weeks each parent has seven nights: two weeknights every week, plus one three-night weekend that joins their weeknights into a five-night block.
Yes. The usual version anchors the pairs on Monday–Tuesday and Wednesday–Thursday so the weekend forms the long block, but any two fixed pairs work as long as they repeat every week.
There is no perfect schedule, and this is a guide rather than a rule. What works depends on the children’s ages, the distance between the two homes and how each parent works, and it changes as they grow. General information, not legal advice.