The 4-3 Schedule
One home has the kids four nights a week, the other has three, and it is the same days every single week. No rotation to track, ever.
How it works
The 4-3 schedule does not rotate. Household A has the kids Monday through Thursday, four nights, every week. Household B has Friday through Sunday, three nights, every week. There is no week two to learn and no flip to keep track of. Whatever the pattern is this week, it is the same next week and the week after that.
The split works out to roughly 57 percent of nights with the four-night home and 43 percent with the three-night home. It is not an even 50/50, but it is close, and the tradeoff is a schedule so simple that most families stop needing a calendar to check it after the first couple of weeks.
Who it fits
Kid ages
Tends to suit school-age kids and older, who do well with an unchanging pattern rather than frequent transitions. A four-night stretch is a longer gap than many younger children are ready for.
Distance between homes
Works best when the homes are close enough for the school-week parent to comfortably handle daily drop-offs, homework, and activities without help from the other home during that stretch.
Work schedules
Fits parents who want simplicity over an exact split, and where one parent is comfortable being the steady school-week presence while the other reliably covers the weekend.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Extremely predictable. The days are the same every single week
- Only one handoff pattern to learn, not two alternating weeks
- Each parent gets consistent days, so one always has the weekends and the other always has the school week
- Fewer transitions overall than a schedule like 2-2-3
Cons
- Not an exact 50/50 split, it runs closer to 57/43
- Whichever parent has the weekdays carries most of the school-night routine, while the other gets the weekend fun, and that imbalance does not rotate away
- Up to four nights can pass without seeing one parent
- The fixed weekend split can start to feel unfair over time if it is never revisited
An example month
Say the week starts on a Monday. Household A has the kids Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Household B has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The next week runs exactly the same way: Household A takes Monday through Thursday again, Household B takes Friday through Sunday again. There is no alternating and no second pattern to memorize, so every week of the month, and every month after it, looks identical unless the family agrees to change it. A single appointment or trip is just noted as a swap for that day, and the regular pattern picks back up right after.
Frequently asked
Is the 4-3 schedule the same as 60/40?
No. Four nights out of seven works out to about 57/43, not 60/40. It is close, but if you need an exact 60/40 split you will want a different pattern.
Can we switch which parent gets the weekends?
Yes. There is nothing special about the split itself, only that it stays fixed once you pick it. Some families do decide to swap the blocks partway through the year, for example around a school semester, and just treat it as a new fixed schedule from that point on.
Is 4-3 good for young children?
It can work, but four nights is a longer stretch than many families with toddlers or preschoolers are comfortable with. 2-2-3 or 2-2-5-5 usually fit younger kids better because neither home goes as long without seeing them.
How is 4-3 different from 2-2-3?
2-2-3 rotates every week and lands on an even 50/50 split over a two week cycle. 4-3 never rotates: the same home gets the same days every single week, and the split is a little uneven at roughly 57/43.
A month at a glance
The fixed weekly pattern, repeated across a month. Print it, pin it up, and color in your real dates. Day 1 is wherever your week starts.
Free, one page, no sign-up. Prints clean in color or black and white.
Build this schedule in ten seconds
Pick 4-3, answer whose night it is tonight, and WhoseNight builds your whole calendar automatically, widget included.
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