The every other weekend schedule
In an every other weekend schedule the children live with one parent during the week and spend every second weekend with the other, usually from Friday after school until Sunday. Over two weeks that is 12 nights in one home and 2 in the other.
Also called alternating weekends, EOW.
Two weeks of the every other weekend schedule
Parent A: 12 nightsParent B: 2 nights
- Nights every two weeks
- 12 and 2, about 86/14
- Handovers every two weeks
- 2
- Longest time away from either parent
- 12 nights
- Weekends
- Alternate every week
- Cycle starts on
- Friday
How the every other weekend schedule works, night by night
- Week 1, Friday and Saturday nights: Parent B, 2 nights
- Week 1 Sunday night to week 2 Thursday night: Parent A, 12 nights
Then the two weeks repeat.
Advantages
- The school week stays in one home, with one set of routines, homework and bedtimes.
- Only two handovers every two weeks.
- It works across long distances, because the weekend parent never has to do a school run.
Drawbacks
- The least time with the second parent of any common schedule.
- Twelve nights between visits.
- The weekend parent misses most of weekday life: school events, practices and homework.
Who the every other weekend schedule suits
Arrangements where one parent lives too far away to manage the school run. Two nights rather than three is deliberate: the children go back on Sunday so they are home for Monday morning, which is the reason the shape exists.
Common variations
The most common change is a midweek visit with the weekend parent, either a dinner or an overnight, which shortens the twelve-night gap. Some families also stretch the weekend to Sunday night, with the return at school on Monday morning.
Questions about the every other weekend schedule
What percentage is every other weekend?
Two nights in every fourteen, about 14 percent, for the weekend parent, and twelve nights, about 86 percent, for the other. Holidays and a longer summer stretch usually make the share across a whole year higher than that.
Does every other weekend include Sunday night?
Usually not. The common arrangement is Friday and Saturday nights, with the children back on Sunday so they wake up at home on Monday morning. Some families include Sunday night and do the return at school drop-off instead.
Does every other weekend work long distance?
It is the schedule most often used when the homes are far apart, because it needs one round trip every two weeks and never a school night away from the weekday home.
Setting it up in Coparia
Every other weekend is one of Coparia's built-in schedules. Choose it and the Friday of the first weekend, and the calendar fills in from there.
Both parents see the same calendar, each day colored by whose it is, and a single day can be swapped without touching the pattern.
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