Seb hates hiccupping. It distressed him from the time when he was a small baby. The other day I fetched him from school. “How was your day?” I asked. “I had hiccups,” he told me sadly. Having hiccups is a Big Bad Thing.
There are all sorts of old wives’ tales about how to make hiccups stop: drink a glass of water upside down (how is this even possible?), or give a hiccupping person a fright, or make the victim hold their breath. None of which I was prepared to inflict upon my beloved son.
Instead, I decided I would hold Seb tightly to me – heart pressed against heart – and we would count down the time between hiccups. When a hiccup would come, I’d go “Oh no!” in mock exasperation and start counting again from the beginning.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, oh no! One, two, three, four, five … oh no!” And so it would go until he started laughing and the hiccups magically disappeared.
It’s our thing. He is eight and we still do this. Of course, he has now learned to manage the hiccups on his own, and he has become fascinated about why we hiccup. So am I. Charles Osbourne held the world record for having hiccupped for 68 years, which is quite frankly horrifying.
Denne historien er fra May/June 2021-utgaven av Woolworths TASTE.
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Denne historien er fra May/June 2021-utgaven av Woolworths TASTE.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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