ABSTRACT
A major form of advocating for yourself as an early childhood professional is valuing self-care as a form of advocacy. Teaching young children can be a stressful job. Often, early childhood educators put the needs of many others in their lives before their own. Depression and symptoms of secondary traumatic stress (STS) can be displayed from many early childhood professionals. This chapter emphasizes the importance of self-care. A checklist of how to recognize when you have a lack of self-care is provided. Strategies on how to begin implementing daily self-care are included within the chapter. Advocating for yourself as an early childhood professional must begin to include putting yourself on your list of who to take care of and begin prioritizing self-care as a part of living a healthy lifestyle.
