What a 2-2-3 schedule looks like
Over two weeks, the children spend two nights with one parent, two with the other, then three with the first. The next week the pattern flips, so the three-night weekend moves to the other parent.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | A | A | B | B | A | A | A |
| Week 2 | B | B | A | A | B | B | B |
Each parent ends up with seven nights out of fourteen, and every weekend alternates. No child goes more than three nights without seeing either parent, which is why this rotation is so common for younger children.
Try it with your own dates
Pick the Monday you want to start, choose who has the children that week, and the calendar below builds itself. Add school holidays if you already know them.
A partir de 7 de set. de 2026
setembro de 2026
outubro de 2026
O outro progenitor recebe o mesmo calendário e pode vê-lo do seu lado. A ligação não tem dados pessoais.
Who 2-2-3 suits
- Children under about eight. Short gaps matter more than fewer moves at this age.
- Parents who live close to each other and to school. Six changeovers a fortnight only work when the journey is short.
- Parents who can both do school runs. Most handovers then happen at the school gate, which means the parents rarely have to meet.
Who it does not suit
- Teenagers, who often find the constant moving disruptive and would rather have a base for the week.
- Parents with irregular shifts. The rotation assumes both of you are available on the same weekdays each fortnight. If that is not true, look at 2-2-5-5 with fixed weekdays or a custom rotation.
- Long distances. If the drive is more than half an hour, the moves become the main event of the week.
Starting a 2-2-3 schedule
- Choose a start Monday. Rotations are far easier to read when week one starts on a Monday.
- Decide who has the first week. It does not affect fairness; over any two-week cycle it evens out.
- Agree a changeover time, and stick to one. Most families use the end of the school day or 5pm.
- Write down the holiday exceptions before they come up. Christmas, New Year and the summer split are the three that cause the most arguments when left to the last minute. The holiday template walks through them.
- Send the calendar to your co-parent using the button under the calendar above. They see the same dates from their side and can suggest a change without either of you retyping anything.
What to do when it stops working
Children grow, jobs change. The usual move from 2-2-3 is to 2-2-5-5, which keeps the fixed weekdays but replaces the short weekend with a five-night stretch, then to alternating weeks when the child is old enough to prefer it. Rather than reopening the whole arrangement, agree a review date once a year and treat the schedule as something you both maintain.