I'm not sure why "home every night" seems to be the holy grail in aviation rostering, (unless your wife gets 'lonely' and you've got a particularly handsome postman
). Home-every-night, can typically mean some long days, and early start / late finishes which means your time at home can be not particularly productive. Obviously it suits some people, but certainly not everyone loves it for home life
There are other jobs / rosters out there which give great family life, but are not necessarily home every night.
my previous airline had horrific rostering / no stability and its the lack of stability coupled with minimum days off and random standbys which killes home life.
I'm with BA now and the family life aspect of the rostering is fantastic. I typically get 14 odd days off per month. In reality I get a few more than that as most trips have a very useable 1/2 or 3/4 day at the beginning or end - i.e some trips have late evening reports and others are back at base in time for brekky. the roster, once published, is armour plated, it just does not change. Whilst I cannot predict future days off as I would be able to in a fixed roster, the bidding system, couple with the ability to swap with others without going through the company, means that most required days off can be accomodated. with a fixed roster - yes you know your days off in advance, but you generally cannot then change them if required. swings and roundabouts as to which is best.
Depending on wether you are senior or junior you know what you are doing between 2 and 4 weeks before the next months roster starts
I'm sure there are other systems out there that offer great family life too - but i've only experienced the above.