Updated September 2026
This page explains exactly what happens between typing in two names and seeing a color-coded calendar — the real logic behind the tool, not a marketing description. If you're deciding whether this planner fits your situation, this is the page that tells you.
The planner ships with five named parenting-time patterns: week on/week off, 2-2-3, 2-2-5-5, 3-4-4-3, and every other weekend. The first four are built the same way under the hood: each is a repeating 7- or 14-day sequence of "Parent A day" / "Parent B day" that starts counting from whatever date you set as the schedule's start. Pick 2-2-3, for example, and the tool walks forward from your start date applying a fixed 14-day rotation — 2 days, 2 days, 3 days, then the mirror image the next week — regardless of what day of the week your start date falls on. That matters: because the pattern counts from your chosen start date rather than locking to "always Monday," changing the start date by even a day shifts which actual weekdays each parent gets. If you want a 2-2-3 schedule where handoffs land on specific days (say, always switching on Wednesdays), set the start date to the Wednesday you want that first switch to happen.
"Every other weekend" isn't a repeating day-count cycle — it's a rule. Monday through Thursday always belong to the primary parent. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are treated as a single 3-night weekend block, and that block alternates between parents every other week, counting from the first Friday on or after your start date. By default, that first eligible weekend goes to the non-primary parent — so if you need the primary parent to keep the very first weekend after your start date, either flip "Starts with" or nudge the start date forward a few days until the alternation lines up the way you intend. It's worth previewing the first month before you rely on the calendar for real planning.
The "Starts with" dropdown swaps which parent is assigned to day zero of the pattern — everything else about the rotation stays identical, just mirrored. It's the fastest way to fix a schedule that's technically correct but has the wrong parent on the wrong day for your actual arrangement.
The percentage split shown above the calendar only counts nights from your start date forward, across however many months you've chosen to display (2, 3, 4, or 6). Days from earlier in the displayed month, before your start date, are shown on the calendar for context but aren't counted in the tally — so a schedule starting mid-month will show a tally that reflects the real go-forward split, not a skewed partial month.
Clicking "Export to calendar" generates one all-day calendar event per day for roughly months × 31 days forward from your start date, each labeled "With [parent name]." That's a deliberate overshoot — it guarantees the exported file covers your full selected range even in months with fewer days — so the very end of the file may run a few days past what's visible on the on-screen calendar. Import the .ics file into Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook and each day shows up as its own labeled event.
Every calculation described above runs in your browser, in JavaScript, against the values you typed in. The schedule state — parent names, pattern, start date — is saved only to your own browser's local storage under one key, so it's still there next time you visit this device, but it is never transmitted anywhere. There's no account, no server-side database, and no way for us to see what you've entered. See the privacy policy for the full picture.