Teaching a 9-year old guitar

I don't know.  My daughter is seven and I just let her bang on it and wail out some lyric or another.  I keep seeing if she's interested in learning some cheater chords for G,C, and D and to be able to bang out some real songs, but she's not yet.  So I don't push it.  The girl next door got a keyboard for Christmas and can play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star from memory already, so that's motivating my daughter some.  So far as I can tell, that's all you can do.  Wait until they have motivation and then fuel the fire.  People have their own lives to live and that needs to be respected, even the lives of seven and nine year olds.   

Good luck.

When I was first learning I remember just wanting to play a song. Not scales, not notes, just a song.  I remember getting sick of twinkle twinkle or three blind mice. I would say ask the student for a few songs that they would like to play. You pick the easiest one and start there. after learning a simple solo, show him the theroy of that solo and show how it applies to another song then work on that one.

The Most Skipped Step Is The Basic Teaching The Name Of The Strings,And Notes Of Each String Per Fret.
Eddie Ate Dynomite,Good By eddie.So From Top To Bottom We Have Eadgbe,then learn each string all the way up to the 12 fret.
Notes Of A Guitar R         E A D G B e   Top To Bottom.
(Eddie Ate Dynomite Good Bye eDDIE)
knowing E shaped bar chords and A shaped barchords.

Tuba they make a jr size electric and you can set the hight of the strings so it will be easier to press the strings down and the neck is much shorter so he shouldn't have any trouble reaching the first fret

A good quality 1/2 to 3/4 size guitar, depending on the size of the student, will be easier to play than a full sized adult guitar. Also, nylon strings will be easier on tinder young fingers to learn the basic's on. Keep the lessons fun rather than as work. Always end the daily lesson on a positive note. My grandson, who will be 3 in Febuary has to have his guitar and will set with me and play along with me as I play. His style is to just hold the guitar and just srum away. He really thinks he has done something when we brag about his pertty music. He has already been on stage with me and his Memaw at one of our Friday night get to gathers and will sing along to I'll Fly Away. Always make it fun for the children and they will stick with the music.

Nela

Maturity plays a big part in this, but I have always found that when kids discover how to figure songs out on their own, the fun factor goes up exponentially. As soon as I can get them playing some basic open chords, I pull out an extremely simplified version of the circle of fifths, and explain that most of the songs they hear on the radio are the I, IV, and V chords of a particular key, and that by listening to the song a few times, they can teach themselves how to play it (in any key). Once they have this down, they not only get very excited (because they can play half the songs they know), but they also start asking questions when they run into something different.

If they're too young to understand that, just let them bang away!

Also, NELA makes a good point: Instrument size is extremely important, and depending on the student, generally, I recommend nylon strings for anyone younger than 8.

I'm with NELA... my 5 year old has her own guitar... it's a TINY little guitar (I am going to HAVE to post pics)!  It actually has steel strings on it and I have considered switching her to nylon, but frankly she isn't interested in learning how to fret any chords.  She just bangs away on it and "pretends" to fret it because she sees me doing it.  She makes up her own songs to go along with the horrid sounds that come out of that thing, but she's having fun.  I'm not about to stop her or insist that she try to play it "right".  My son is 14 and has had an acoustic for a good 5 years or so now.  He finally got interested and attempted to learn something when he saw me pick up a guitar and actually play.  He now has an electric that I bought him for Christmas and is working on learning.  I can play chords and switch between them fairly well and strum out a pattern.  He on the other hand is like "all teenagers" and wants to play lead.  He's learning his notes up and down the neck and can pick out some leads.  I try to work with him on the circle of fifths and strumming patterns, he tries to show me different notes on the neck.  Find out what they like and encourage whatever that is.  Keep it fun and wait until they are ready.  My dad tried for many years to get me to play... I wasn't ready until I was 33!