Bonfire Night falls on Thursday 5 November. Across our homes the plans look different, and deliberately so.
Fireworks are loud, sudden and impossible to predict. For some young people that is exactly the appeal. For others, particularly those who have lived with noise they could not control, a week of unexpected bangs after dark is genuinely difficult. Both of those are normal, and neither needs explaining away.
So the conversation in each home happens beforehand: who wants to go to an organised display, who would rather watch from a window, who wants the curtains shut, the telly on and headphones available. Knowing what is coming, and having a say in it, takes most of the edge off.
Staff also talk through the practical side with young people: sparklers at arm’s length, gloves on, a bucket of water, and nobody going back to a firework. Ordinary advice, said out loud rather than assumed.