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Barb Wentworth is a bicycle safety planner for the City of Toronto and a national examiner for CAN-BIKE, a cycling education program offering courses to adults and children.

She offers some suggestions for adult cyclists who plan to hit the road with child seats mounted on their bicycles.

Make sure you're a strong rider before you take a child along. "What happens when you have a child on the bike is it raises the centre of gravity, so it changes how it feels and how it operates," Wentworth said.

"You want to have really good bike skills of your own before you take the kids along but it's a great things to do, and the kids love it, and there's also bike trailers that work really well for children."

Get yourself decked out first, then your child, before heading out.

"You get everything done that you need to do, and you get your child ready and the very last thing you do is you put your child in the bike seat in the bike carrier, strap them in and then you get on yourself and go," Wentworth said.

"You don't want to put your child in the carrier and then turn around to go and get something or grab your water bottle or something because the danger there is the bike will fall over."

It's the reverse on the other side, she said. The first thing that comes off the bike is the child and then you do everything else you need to do.

Choose your route carefully.

"You don't necessarily want to be out on the major arterials.

"If you can take side routes it's quieter and easier for your child."