How should I make a 6 year old think more? I have been teaching my 6 year old daughter chess for past 2 years. She plays reasonably well. She often defeats level 25 in Chess Lv 100 app and sometimes Level 6 in Chess.com app. So I am guessing her ELO rating might be around 1200.
I am trying to encourage her to think a little more and be more patient before making an instinctive move. I must have told her a 100 times and shown her effects of not thinking when we analyse the game after she is done. But she continues the same way and does too many errors which she can easily avoid if only she had thought for 5 seconds more. What else can I do to make her understand this?
UPDATE
I have got a lot of answers and useful pointers. Here is a quick summary of suggestions and some of my thoughts.
General

I think some people thought that I train my daughter without her will. May be because of the way I framed the question, English is not my first language. Anyways that is not the case. Whatever is to be done is to be done while understanding a 6 year old's psychology and while ensuring that she continues loving the sport

Every 6 year old (or for that matter a 60 year old) is not the same. So there is no perfect solution that a 6 year old will surely do x or will surely not do y. Even blanket solutions for an average 6 year old kid wouldn't work if it is already established that you are not dealing with an average 6 year old. We have to research/identify/adjust solutions which suit us best.

Solutions like &quot;just keep letting her make mistakes and she will one day understand&quot; have one risk of bad habits getting formed which are extremely difficult to do away. I have seen it happening with kids in other sports. However it also works out fine in many instances.

I think &quot;having fun playing&quot; is not the only motivation. Sure it is the most important one but not the only one. Also various motivations feed into one another. For example, if a kid wins a trophy, he/she will have more fun playing and training which leads to a virtuous cycle. So in the end, it all boils down to striking a right balance between training and having fun. For a 6 year old, probably 90-95% has to be fun.

Best solution is probably to nudge a kid in the right direction but in such a way that kid doesn't feel nudged. It is obviously easier said than done. It has to done in a very subtle and patient way. In my opinion, it is not enough for the kid to enjoy the process. Coach/Teacher/Parent has to enjoy it too.


Biggest takeaways for me are

I shouldn't just be asking her to think more. I have to break down &quot;thinking&quot; more. Feed her questions which I would ask myself before playing a move

I now give more time to analysis of the game after her game with bot is over. We also use a manual chessboard to show where game could have gone if she or the bot had played other move. That engages her better.

Trying to understand her point of view better. Sometimes a moves looks very wrong prima-facie. But I am glad to find that there is a rationale behind it. Sure, it is half-baked and not thoroughly thought out. But that will get fixed if we keep at it.

We play together with higher bot levels. That is fun for me as well as her and is a good way to feed her questions.

Have more variety in play. open ended puzzles, close ended puzzles, blitz, regular, analysis, digital, manual, lower level bot, higher level bot, another human.

Videos if available in your language and Chess Clubs which can provide a good sparring partner should help a lot.
What else can I do to make her understand this


Wait a few years. A 6 year-old's mental capacity is very limited. The good news is that at that age and for several years to come her mental capability is increasing rapidly.

Trying to teach a 6 year old the same way you teach a 12 year old is stupid whether it is maths you are teaching or chess. At 6 the emphasis should be on enjoyment if you still want her to be playing chess at 12.