I'm lucky enough to be Canadian and we've had universal parental leave for some time now, though not at full pay. Of my group of 5 close families, all of them ended up taking some form of parental leave. One parent was initially told no by her company before she pointed out that the government enforced this and the company couldn't say no.<p>Most did things like rent a house somewhere else and stay for 2-3 weeks. All of them still rave bout this as being some of the best times of lives. If you do ever get the chance to do this, I recommend doing it with another couple in the same situation so you have a built in baby sitter so you can go out to diner without having to worry about who is watching your new born.<p>Just to show the other side, one of my friends sent out this article below to highlight the downside of parental leave. As this becomes more common, I think companies will learn but it can still be a sticky topic.<p><a href="http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-strategy/the-dark-side-of-maternity-leave/" rel="nofollow">http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-strategy/the-dark-s...</a>