Alternating weekends
The kids live mainly at one house. The other parent has them every second weekend, usually Friday evening to Sunday evening.
Parent A: 12 nights · Parent B: 2 nights · repeats every 14 days.
What it is like
This is the most common schedule in the country and often the default when nobody chose anything. It is worth knowing that it is a choice, because plenty of families end up here without ever having considered another option.
When it fits, it fits well. One stable home, a predictable rhythm, and no negotiating over weekday logistics.
Suits
Long distances, including different cities. Work patterns that make weekday care genuinely impossible. Families where this is what everyone actually wants, which is a real and sufficient reason.
Harder if
The every-other-weekend parent starts to feel like a visitor rather than a parent, which is a thing kids often notice before adults name it. Twenty four days a year is not much ordinary life together, and ordinary life is where most of the relationship happens.
Worth considering
Adding a midweek evening or a single midweek overnight changes this pattern more than the hours suggest. Homework at a kitchen table on a Wednesday is a different kind of time than a weekend that has to be special.
Try it with your own dates
Runs entirely in your browser, generated from the same logic as the app. No account, no data sent anywhere.
Putting it on a calendar
Once you have picked something, the app will build it. Choose the pattern, set the start date, and it writes the whole schedule into a shared calendar both houses can see. Change it later and it rebuilds without you redoing the year by hand.
One calendar is free, which is all this needs.