I take my four year old daughter and her friend hiking every week, and a few weeks ago we had our first "I have to poo!" in the middle of nowhere emergency together.

Experience to the rescue right?! Wrong! I lived and learned through this exact emergency before, when my son was little. After that, I carried a trowel for just such an occasion, but it was removed from my day hike pack some time ago and not replaced. DOH!

Thankfully I had toilet paper, wipes and plastic bags this time! My day hike bag trowel has now been replaced and I've double-checked that there is one in the family BOB. Lesson re-learned.