In reality, the causes of stuttering are not precisely known, although there are many theories. About three times as many boys as girls stutter. More is known about the factors that affect or worsen stuttering than the specific causes. Parents should be more concerned with their reaction to stuttering than their role in causing it. An angry or exasperated reaction to disfluency can be like throwing salt on a wound.
Constant criticism can make an already self-conscious child even more anxious.
By then, normal disfluency drops to very low levels. If stuttering continues in the school age child, he is old enough to be aware of the problem and perhaps embarrassed by it. Classmates and friends may draw attention to it. What parents can tell the child is that talking is a skill, and making mistakes is an important part of learning any skill. Compare it to catching a ball or riding a bike and explain that some children are more skilled at doing certain things than others.