Why are toe stands/walks so hard for me?!

I'm 14 years old and I've been competitively dancing for five years. Somehow, I haven't gotten around to learning toe stands/walks until this year! For the last several days, I've been trying to walk around the house on my toes, but for some reason, it's really tough! My ankles wobble and I'm usually off balance. Also, I got my hardshoes "used," but it feels like they're not quite broken in or something... whenever I try to stand on my toes, unless I really concentrate OR I loosen my laces quite a bit, I feel like I'm not really balancing on the platform/box/thing/whatever.
So my question(s) is/are....
Is it normal for it to take this long to learn toe walks/stands?

What can I do to make them better/easier?
Other info that may or may not be helpful: I have pretty strong legs (I have HUGE calves), and fairly high arches and insteps. My toes are of fairly even length. I am prone to really bad shin splints up the side of my lower leg if I'm dancing/running for a long time. My shoes are (lightly) used Fays.
Like I said, when I loosened my laces it seemed like my foot bent more which made it easier. Is this a good solution or could this possibly damage my feet or build bad habits?
Replies would be appreciated!! :)

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Kierans on January 7, 2012 at 5:05pm

Toe stands took me ages to master, so don't be worried about how long its taking! make sure your shoes aren't too tight, because it makes it much harder to do toe stands in my opinion! don't be putting too much pressure on yourself to do them, just take it easy and with practise (and a lot of falls, I warn you now!) they will come to you. :)

don't be afraid to fall either, you'll just hit the floor, get back up an try again! pain is gain! :D

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Permalink Reply by Emily Wilkerson on January 7, 2012 at 10:50pm

Thanks :) Haha, "pain is pain".... very true. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Emily Wilkerson on January 24, 2012 at 10:05pm

They're finally getting easier! I don't look as much like a baby giraffe anymore. ;) Thanks you guys.
(I used to get horrible blisters, but one thing I've found that helps is lambs wool. My friend who used to do ballet told me about it and dang does it work!)

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Permalink Reply by Biljana on January 24, 2012 at 10:08pm

Great, keep practicing :)

And, may I ask how do you use lambs wool for your blisters?

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Permalink Reply by Emily Wilkerson on January 25, 2012 at 9:48pm

Basically you just play with it until it's comfortable, stick it at the very front of your shoe and after a while it molds to your toes! I found it at a drugstore near the section where they have bandaids.