Two-year-old Thomas Latham likes riding in the car, but he's not fond of toasting in it. His mother, Laura, tries to synchronize long car trips with Thomas' nap time, but that doesn't always work when the sun beats down.

"I hear it all the time," the Roanoke mom said, " 'Sun in eyes! Sun in eyes!' "

To help keep Thomas keep his cool in more ways than one, Latham puts sunshades on the rear side windows.

Kirsten Robinson, a Roanoke mother-to-be (her boy is due in September), is thinking along the same lines. "We've registered for those," she said, speaking of the window shades. "We're going to need one for each side ... unless we always drive with the sun in the same place," she joked.

Ah, the sun. In the summer, it beats down relentlessly, roasting the rows of cars side-by-side in parking lots all over the world.

There's nothing quite like climbing into at hot car in the middle of July. Temperatures can easily climb above 140 degrees, making steering wheels and seat belt buckles too hot to handle. (There's some good news: That's hot enough to kill most bacteria.)

If you're driving with kids, it's worse. Even the most mild-mannered child can lose her cool when the air conditioner doesn't work fast enough.

Even though she's a few months away from having her first child, Robinson already knows how bad high temperatures can be. She has her white Persian cat Chance's fur trimmed short every summer just so it can stand the heat.

"And with all they say about heat and pets, now I think about it with kids," she said.

The side-window shades Latham uses are just one of a host of old and new devices that can help keep your car cooler while it's parked, and keep your kids cool while you're driving.

The simplest of them is a shade for your windshield -- the kind you unfold when you're parked.

They work. A Roanoke Times test, conducted during a bright afternoon in an unshaded parking lot, found that a $4 car shade knocked 16 degrees off the temperature inside. In an unprotected car the air temperature hit higher than 125 degrees.

You don't need more than a simple cardboard shade, but fancier, heavy-duty plastic models are available for a bit more money. Whatever material you choose, stick with plain white or silver -- they reflect the most light and heat, as tempting as cute pictures and holograms may be.

Keith Robinson, Kirsten's husband, said it didn't occur to him how hot his car got -- at least, not until he got the big news about their baby. Then it hit him.

"It was 90-something outside," he said. "And for the first time I thought, 'What am I going to do with the baby?' "

He likes the fact that his Volkswagen Passat has a built-in rear sunshade, which will be especially important when his new baby is in his rear-facing seat and could be blinded by the sun. (Most cars don't have a built-in rear sunscreen, but stick-on models are available at stores such as Target for about $10.)

It's not just a matter of annoyance, either. While the glass windows block the sun's UVB rays (so you won't tan in a car), they don't block the more harmful UVA rays that can lead to melanoma.

Opening your windows even half an inch works wonders as well. It allows hot air, which expands, to escape. As the car cools the inside pressure drops, drawing in cool air. Open windows also allow some circulation, which helps cool the car.

One of the features Kirsten Robinson said she didn't appreciate before she was pregnant was the ability to open her Passat's windows remotely. Even if it's still hot in the car, "at least we can get some fresh air in," she said.

If you're worried about the occasional summer thunderstorm soaking your seats, consider getting window visors. These small awnings (that's the best way to describe them) mount on the outside above the window, where they let air circulate but keep rain out.

They're custom fit to each model car and cost about $35. Advance Auto says that if you order one from an area store in the morning, it will have them for you by midafternoon.

Worth avoiding, based on customer reviews on a number of Web sites, are solar-powered fans. They use sunlight to power a small fan that's supposed to help cool your car. But users have all but unanimously given them the thumbs down. Save your $15.

That sum will get you a couple of J.C. Penney-brand hand towels you can drape over steering wheels, seat belts or car seats -- with 30 colors to choose from, you can even match your car's interior.

If you want something fancier, you can get a steering wheel cover for anywhere from a few dollars for a simple cloth and elastic model to $55 for the EuroPerf Perforated Leather Steering Wheel Cover from Wheelskins.com.

For a kid in the back, consider the Seat Chiller Child Car Seat Cooler, sold by Baby Dagny (babydagny.com) for $38; it's filled with the same kind of stuff as those blue picnic ice packs. Toss it in the freezer at night, then put it on Junior's car seat a few minutes before you go somewhere. When you take it off, the seat is cool.

The seat cooler will stay cold for hours, so put it back on every time you leave the car while you and Junior are running errands. When you get home, put it back in the freezer for the next day.

You can do even more for your kids. Several companies make roll-up shades for the side windows to block the sun. Some stick on to cover the entire window, while others are miniature window shades that roll up and down.

Richmond-based Baby Fanatic sells sunshades with logos of NCAA teams and NASCAR drivers for $16, and Fisher-Price even makes some high-tech versions: One ($20) is battery-operated and raises and lowers via a remote control; the other ($15) darkens in the sun but stays clear when it's dark out -- a la Transitions eyeglasses.

There is a downside to the side shades. As Latham pointed out, because they're usually attached with suction cups, "Any time you want to wind the window down, it's a pain in the behind. It gets broken or crumpled."

Right now, in fact, hers are lying crumpled in her car. Her husband forgot they were attached and rolled down the windows.

"I've been through probably six of them," she sighed.

Besides the removable shades and covers, you can also make some more permanent changes to your car to keep it cooler.

Window tint is available in rolls from various auto parts stores, and is held in place with either adhesive or simple static cling. It takes a little work to get it on nicely (i.e., without air bubbles), but the result is a permanently darker -- and cooler -- interior.

Window tints are rated by the amount of light they let through. And while local auto parts stores will sell tinting that blocks up to 95 percent of the sun, Virginia law prohibits blocking more than 50 percent of light coming through front-side windows. (Rear side windows must allow at least 35 percent in.)

For an even greater cooling effect, you can get window tint that's also reflective. Thousands of tiny metal particles keep the sunlight away from your car without blinding other drivers. (Keep in mind, though, that Virginia law says it can't be more than 20 percent reflective.)

It goes without saying that you'll want your car's air conditioner working its best. Experts offer a couple of tips: First, keep the space under your windshield wipers clear of leaves and other junk. That's where the AC typically draws its air in.

Second, run the air conditioner for at least a few minutes a week, even in the winter; that helps keep the machinery lubricated. (Using your defroster also works.)

Finally, there's the most basic thing. If you're buying a new car, think of the color. The Robinsons own a light silver Passat and a dark burgundy Buick. "The Passat stays a lot cooler than the Buick," Kirsten said. "And it takes a lot longer to cool off."