I've been in scouting now for 12 years. I love working with the boys. The hiking and weekly meeting to pass off merit badges is great fun and very educational. And how about those pine wood derby races and the Blue and Gold dinners? So here's what gets me just so fired up. Not long ago I went to a Round Table Meeting. They told us we weren't allowed to let the boys pick up rocks or sticks or touch the flower or leaves. They said, if they wanted to take some thing home from the hike that could take a picture or do a rubbing. I just sat there thinking, "This is a joke and the punch line will be any minute." Nope. No punch line. They were serious. At that point I decided I wouldn't be taking my scouts on any hikes that they couldn't have hands on. These boys don't need to be marched down a trail like little solders and not aloud to touch any thing. What's the fun in that? Where's the learning experience in that? I decided I'd take them some where they could pick up a rock, stick, arrow head, fossil, leaf, or flower to take home with them as a keep sake.
Then only last week a friend of mine told me her husband went on a Leave No Trace Behind Hike. She said they had to poop in a tube. You heard me. Poop in a tube!