The Two Backpacks: Understanding Teens and What They Carry

* 2026 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist Award Winner — Parenting/Family Non-fiction *

An essential guide to how our teens develop—and the hidden emotional load they carry

Every teen walks into school or home with two backpacks. One you can see. It’s full of textbooks, pencils, maybe a forgotten granola bar. The other? It’s invisible. And it’s heavy.

Inside that second backpack is everything adults don’t see: anxiety, heartbreak, self-doubt, online pressures, and emotional burdens many teens don’t yet have words for. And yet, too often, we judge them as if they aren’t carrying anything at all.

In The Two Backpacks, educator and podcast host Dr. Jordan Lauer opens our eyes to what teens are really experiencing—psychologically, socially, and neurologically. Combining cutting-edge brain science with poignant real-world stories from the classroom and home, this book equips parents, teachers, and mentors to move from frustration to understanding.

What if your teen’s outburst wasn’t disrespect—but a stress response? What if the behavior wasn’t defiance—but survival?

This book helps us unpack what our teens carry—so we can help them carry it better.

JORDAN LAUER is a veteran educator and co-host of the Educational Warfare podcast. He holds a doctorate in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change from Lipscomb University and is passionate about bringing innovative change to education. He lives with his wife, Ashley, and their children in Columbia, Tennessee.

Dr. Jordan Lauer has spent years teaching History, Psychology, and Sociology, but his real classroom has always been the teenage brain. He's fascinated by how it grows, why it sometimes misfires, and how parents and teachers can survive the ride. His doctoral degree in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change from Lipscomb University in Nashville gave him the research chops to dig deep into how people learn and change—but it's his work with actual teens, parents, and teachers that taught him what really matters.