Only vs. Already

If people asked you how old you are, what would you say? Do you know there're two kinds of age-physical and mental age? It's the mental age that decides the quality of our lives. Years ago when I was teaching in a junior college, a student of mine complained about her mother in her weekly journal. She said her mother had double standard. When the mother expected her to do something, the mother always said, "You're ALREADY 18. You should be able to do it." However, when the mother didn't want her to hang out with friends, she would say, "You're ONLY 18. You don't know how to protect yourself. Stay home!." When reading these words, I was surprised that my student was very insightful. We adults, especially parents, seem to be more protective than we should. On the other hand, we seem to expect our children or students to be more mature than they should be. That's why we are not even aware that we switch "only" and "already" back and forth so often that sometimes we confuse the young people.
It was about 25 years ago when this student complained about her mother. She must be a mother of a teenager now though I don't know where she is or what she does. I wonder what kind of mother she is. Is she as protective and demanding as her mother was? 
"Only" and "already" have been two reminders for me ever since then. I ask my 18-year-old students every year when I teach Freshman English. I challenge them to think more often that they are ALREADY 18 years old. Once they believe they are old enough to make decisions on their own and then take consequences, they'll learn more about life. As for myself, I have to remind myself from time to time that I'm ONLY 55 years old. I'm still young enough to dream. I still have energy and passion for the dreams I want to fulfill. One of my dreams is to inspire my students to dream and make them believe living with dreams is wonderful. What other dreams do I have? Well, one of my dreams is to take a trip to France with Dan, whose major was French but hasn't been to France yet. By the time I have all my dreams fulfilled, maybe I can say, "I'm ALREADY 80. It's time to rest."