Ask a distressed four-year-old what is wrong and you will rarely get the real answer, because the real answer is often just: I do not know how this ends.
Printable weekly chart with space for a name and a face for each day.
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Adults hold the shape of the day without effort. A small child does not. When the ending is unnamed, the whole middle is uncertain — and uncertainty in a young child comes out as clinging, tears, or a stomach ache at ten in the morning.
Saying it once at 7:40am is not the same as them being able to check. A chart on the fridge that they look at while their shoes go on lets them verify, which is a different and much more settling act than being told.
Tell them before, not after, even when the change is small and even when you think they will not mind. The value of the routine is that it has never once been wrong.
Draw or write the name and let them match it to a face they know. The point is that it is checkable and it does not change during the day, not that they can read it.
Say that, and name when they will find out. "I will tell you at lunchtime" is a plan. Vagueness is what is hard, not bad news.
Part of our guide to Daycare & pickup.