Want the full week this applies to?
The full seven evenings this one-session approach is built for, night by night.
Read the 7-Day ChallengeRunning a 7-Day Challenge With Kids at Different Levels
Play Plans and Challenges > 7-Day Challenge > Different Levels
I've got three kids at home, not two, and that's made the real problem clearer than it would be with just two. Most of the time it isn't really a skill gap between them, it's an interest gap, and those two problems need completely different handling from a parent trying to run one session everyone can join.
Our oldest spent years wanting nothing to do with anything sporty, and it's only since I started running low-pressure games most evenings that he's joined in consistently. He's not behind on skill, he's behind on wanting to be there at all. Our youngest, meanwhile, has no real interest in football as a concept, and handed a ball she picks it up and runs off with it, which is technically rugby.
Not a skill gap, an interest gap
The Mistake I Made Early On: Treating It as a Difficulty Problem
My first instinct was to make the game easier for the one who seemed less into it: a smaller target, a gentler pace. That works fine for our middle one, who's genuinely interested but still learning. It does almost nothing for our oldest or our youngest, because their issue was never that the game was too hard, it was that they didn't want to be doing it at all.
Different problems, different fixes
What Actually Works for the Child Who Isn't Interested, Not the Child Who Isn't Skilled Yet
For our oldest, the fix wasn't an easier version of football. It was making the whole thing optional and low-stakes enough that saying yes cost him nothing. I stopped asking "do you want to play football" and started a game nearby, then said "come and see if you can hit this" once, without pushing if he said no. He came round on his own timeline.
For our youngest, I stopped keeping her feet-only and let the challenge be "can you get the ball from here to there," however she wanted. Some nights that's a rugby-style carry; some nights she copies her brothers on feet because it looks more fun. Either way she's outside, moving, and near the game, which is most of what I actually want on a given evening.
One flexible challenge, not separate games
How to Run One Session That Works for Genuinely Different Children
Pick a challenge with a loose enough structure that it can flex. A target game works better here than a strict dribbling course, because "hit the target" can be attempted by foot, hand, or a full sprint carry and still counts as playing. Let each child interpret it their own way rather than enforcing one version, the same flexible approach the 7-Day Challenge leans on most evenings. Our middle one dribbles it properly. Our oldest has a couple of low-key goes without anyone watching too closely. Our youngest runs it in and does a little celebration.
Asking our oldest to help set up a target for our youngest, "make sure it's not too tricky for her," gave him a job that had nothing to do with his own performance, which took the pressure off entirely. He got more comfortable being around the game through helping than he ever would through being asked to play it directly.
Keep the counting separate
Watch for Comparison, and Some Evenings It Just Will Not Come Together
Our middle one will occasionally notice, and mention, that he's "better" than the others at this. True, and not the point most evenings.
Not every session includes all three. Some nights it's just our middle one and me, with our oldest on the sidelines by choice and our youngest off doing cartwheels nearby, and that's a good outcome too. The goal was never all three every night, just an open door most evenings so whoever wants in that day can walk through it.
The research behind it
Why Letting Each Child Choose Their Own Way In Actually Works
There's real research behind why this works, not something I just stumbled into. a systematic review of self-determination theory in physical education (Vasconcellos et al., 2020) found that allowing genuine choice in how children engage with an activity, rather than enforcing one correct way to do it, is consistently linked to more autonomous motivation and better engagement. That's exactly why letting each child interpret the same challenge their own way, on foot, by hand, or at a sprint, works better than insisting on one version. This evidence comes from school PE and organised sport, not siblings playing together at home, so it supports the general mechanism that genuine choice beats one correct way, not proof that this exact setup will work for any specific child. It also helps that this is the common case rather than the exception: Families and Households in the UK: 2024 puts the figure at 55.6% of UK families with dependent children having two or more, so juggling differing interests and abilities at once is what most parents in this audience are actually doing. See how Our Kickabout researches its pages.
Keep going
Where to Go From Here
If the interest gap (not the skill gap) is the real issue, these help too.
Looking for the easiest entry point for a reluctant one?
Games with no clear winner tend to be the easiest way in for a child who isn't sold yet.
Read football games without competitionNew to all this?
Start with the pressure-free basics before layering on more than one child.
Read Confident BeginnersTonight's five minutes
Start a Target Game Loose Enough That Everyone Can Attempt It Their Own Way
Pick one loose target, let each child hit it however they want, and see who joins in tonight.