The calendar and swaps

Setting up a schedule

Tap Set up a schedule and follow three steps:

1. Choose a pattern: alternating weekends with a midweek overnight, week on and week off, 2-2-3, 2-2-5-5, or custom (tap each of 14 nights).
2. Choose the midweek night or the exchange day, or tap the custom nights.
3. Set the exchange time and, if you like, the place (for example, school pickup). Then Save schedule.

Each child can have their own schedule, or one can apply to all of them.

Agreeing changes

Once the other parent is on Sovela, a new schedule takes effect only when they agree. Holidays and swaps work the same way. Things waiting for you appear under Needs you, with Agree and Decline. What you’ve asked for appears under Waiting for the other parent until they answer. Nothing is deleted: declined requests stay on the record. If you’re using Sovela alone, a schedule applies right away.

Adding a holiday

From the … menu on the calendar, tap Add a holiday. Name it (for example, Thanksgiving or Grandma’s birthday), choose the night, who has the children that night, and, if you have more than one child, which child. Then send it. Once the other parent agrees, it takes the place of the usual schedule for that night and shows a star on the calendar. If you’re using Sovela alone, it goes on the calendar right away.

Swapping nights

Tap Ask to swap nights, choose a night you’d give and, if you like, a night you’d get back, add a note, and send it. Asking for one night without giving one back changes the balance by one night, and Sovela tells you so. Nights must be from tomorrow onwards, within a year. If the calendar changes before the other parent answers, you’ll be asked to choose new nights.

Your request shows under Waiting for the other parent until they answer; tap Cancel there to withdraw it (it stays on the record as cancelled). When the other parent declines a swap, they can give a reason. Answers to your requests from the last two weeks appear under Answered, with the reason if there was one.

The time balance

The time bank shows each parent’s planned and actual overnights for the year. Planned is what the schedule and holidays say; actual includes changes you both agreed to.