I relate to this big time. I also feel terrible for passing this onto my son. I carried around so much shame for most of my life due to stuttering. When my son started stuttering I felt AWFUL, it was like reliving it all over again. And I felt terrible for him. What I realized is that how I view and feel about stuttering is going to help him learn how to view and feel about stuttering. We do all the right stuff- speech therapy (private and in school) but we also work hard to normalize that this is just something he does and he can’t help it, etc. We make sure to talk about it openly, communicate with his school, basically talk about it in the open as much as possible so it stays as ‘light’ as possible. My son is turning 11 this week and he now knows how to respond when someone asks about his stutter. It’s a simple response and kids don’t make a big deal out of it. If someone makes fun of him, he asks them to stop making fun of his stutter. We talk about not judging people for things they can’t change about themselves. It’s also really nice when other kids come out of the woodwork and share that they also stutter, or used to. It’s also been healing for me- to accept myself for who I am- rather than hate myself for stuttering. Obviously I love my son no matter what so this process has also helped me love myself in the same way.