For most school age children regularity involves the presence of parents, awakening in the morning, preparing for school, meeting with the same teacher, the same children, playing with friends and sleeping in their own beds. Essentially the child is able to depend on a series of predictable events. For the pre-schooler life is much the same. He spends his days within the familiarity of his world, maybe at home, with babysitters or at nursery school. His surroundings remain more or less constant.
Children expect dependability from adults and certainly from the forces of nature.
When there is an interruption in this natural flow of life, the child may experience anxiety and fear. He is afraid of recurrence, injury or death. He is afraid of being separated from his family. He is afraid of being left alone. Parents should recognize that there are fears that come from within the child, his imagination or his fantasies.