The 2-2-5-5 care schedule
In a 2-2-5-5 rotation each parent keeps the same two weekdays every week, and the weekends alternate in five-day blocks. The split over a fortnight is even, and because the weekdays never move, most families find it the easiest equal-time pattern to remember.
| Week 1 | Week 2 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | ||
| Parent A | |||||||||||||||
| Parent B | |||||||||||||||
A fortnight of this rotation. The top row is one parent, the bottom row the other.
How the rotation works
One parent has Monday and Tuesday every week, the other Wednesday and Thursday. The Friday-to-Sunday block alternates, and that alternation is what produces the five-day stretches. A child always knows that Monday means one home and Wednesday means the other.
Often works when
- Weekday routines matter — a fixed activity, a childminder, or a shift pattern that repeats weekly.
- The child is old enough for a five-day block, roughly from 6.
- One parent’s working week is uneven, so holding the same two days each week is easier to plan around.
Worth watching
- The five-day blocks are longer than anything in a 2-2-3 rotation. For a child under 6 that gap is often too much.
- Whoever holds Monday and Tuesday carries the start-of-week school admin every single week. Worth checking that both parents find that fair.
- Around 78 handovers a year — fewer than 2-2-3, and more than week-on/week-off.
Questions about this pattern
How does a 2-2-5-5 schedule work?
Each parent keeps the same two weekdays every week — one has Monday and Tuesday, the other Wednesday and Thursday — and the Friday-to-Sunday block alternates. That alternation creates the two five-day stretches in the fortnight.
Why choose 2-2-5-5 over 2-2-3?
The weekdays stay fixed, so the pattern is easier to memorise and easier to build routines around. The cost is the longest gap: five days instead of three, which suits school-age children better than toddlers.
Is 2-2-5-5 an equal split?
Yes. Across a fortnight each parent has seven days, and because the weekend block alternates, neither parent ends up with only weekdays.