Quite why children love tricycles, scooters and bicycles is perhaps a slight mystery - do they like the feel of the air rushing past them, or the fact that they can move about quickly with relatively little effort? Almost certainly the appeal does not lie in the increased likelihood of them having scraped knees, cut elbows, a bump on the head and a missing tooth. However, since children do enjoy these modes of transport, and fathers do seem to enjoy launching their small children down the road armed only with a vague idea of what a brake handle looks like, toy manufacturers have managed to design a range of cycles to appeal to both boys and girls, and to all ages. A number of features have been incorporated for safety, and many bikes these days are adaptable to allow it to grow, to at least some extent, with the child.

Clearly to begin with very young children will not be able to understand pedals, brakes, or even steering, but will enjoy trundling along on wheels. An excellent choice at this age would be to purchase an push along car which has a base and a rear handle. The base means that the car is not open at the bottom, so that the child can rest their feet on the floor of the car. Otherwise, if the car was open, their feet could get trapped or caught under a wheel, knocked backwards, or they could slip right down and land on the ground. The rear handle can in some cases be fixed, allowing the parent to push the car along and physically steer it in one direction or another like a trolley, and in other cases the handle actually twists, turning the steering wheel and the front wheels. It is generally a good idea to try these out, as some people get on better with one type than another - personally I find a static handle best.

Once the child grows a little, you can then remove the base board on some vehicles, allowing them to reach the ground and push themselves along. At this point, a combination of them pushing themselves along with their feet whilst you se the handle will work, but then in most cases the handle is removable, allowing the child to own and control their own car completely.

An alternative is to have a tricycle that follows the same idea, with detachable pedals and a handle. In this case, the child to begin with will sit in a comfortable seat, strapped in in many cases, and you can push them along. Once they become bigger and older, adding the pedals allows them to have a degree of power over their movement, and then by removing the handle, they become the owner and driver. A tricycle will be more stable of course than a bicycle, although again, the alternative is to have stabilisers fitted to a child's bike, and remove them later.

In all these cases, the keyword is adaptability, and allowing small subtle changes will help increase your child's confidence than being presented with a new and unfamiliar metal beast.