i think my dad is awesome and we get along really well. no one is a perfect parent, but he's a great person and a good man. his number one priority is to his family, and he always worked insanely hard to provide for us. i also know that if i'm ever in a tight spot that i can count on him to help me out. he gives good advice and has a good work and life ethic. i definitely respect my dad a ton, especially now as an adult.
i think a lot of it depends on the quality of the shoe... i have a lot of high heels and i've found the cheap ones without a stocky heel are generally harder to walk in because the construction of the shoe is poor. i tend to avoid shoes with a thin heel in the first place because the heel gets absolutely torn up in the area i live in (medieval city centre) with its old-style stone paved streets.
but shoes with a thin heel are definitely harder to learn to walk in. my tip for those is to take someone out for a walk whose arm you can grab if you are feeling unsteady. that way you save yourself the embarrassment of a potential fall. then just practice walking a bit. you'll likely still run into trouble if you come across some rough terrain, but learning to walk on paved streets and paths shouldn't be too hard!
edit: oh yeah, forgot to mention tai chi! when i started taking it my balance was horrendous. but i can now proudly say i can walk in any shoe, anywhere, because of it! maybe it's wrong to apply the balance principles of tai chi to walking in high heels, but at least i can't say it wasn't useful for me, haha
