Coolval,
you're still young hence cant blame u also. what u said only true till a stage. Coz you still cant balance thing up and think simple.
We take Basil case as case study.
with your "if i had my first child, i'd take at least one week off, and not care about anything else but my kid", this already show alot of your thinking and maturity. Its good to be around with your wife and newborn baby but not productive. Im not sure about your culture but for chinese its normal that they do have some aunties being around (some even parents) to take care the new mum and the kids so the father doesnt play much role here.
By taking AT LEAST 1 WEEK leave, you're only risking your rice bowl. If you've seen enaugh this society and realistic enaugh, u will notice majority if not all employer doesnt like this staff take long leave. What you do will only earn urself much higher risk losing rice bowl. If you think lose this job, there is always another, thn u really ....... SELFISH
As age goes, the success rate for you to get new job is lower. Therefore you not only risk your rice bowl but also your family. This is the most critical period for a family which cant afford of when they have new born baby as every expenses is on double. Thats why u dun see plp who had settled down job hop as they used to do. Coz thier COMMITMENT is much greater now and cant afford to failed.
There is a reason why as we grow older, we tend to be more hard get new job. Experince dun play all part. But im not going to explain it here.
So what you seen and you think is only small partial of your life. you need to see in bigger picture and get the chain done. not now and tomorow