Advice wanted

Hello all! I am a 33 year old physician no kids never been married.. I have been dating someone I have known most of my life and the one thing I can’t seem to get past is the baggage.

He has been married twice.. 3 kids with first wife and 1 kid with second. Everything seems fairly reasonable between him and the ex wives at this point but kids are young so obviously a lot of communication occurs. I struggle with this.

He does okay financially but I make much more. He is open to having another kid and is pretty decent to me.

A lot of my friends warn me that I am making a mistake or my family does not want me to date someone with four kids. There are so many other people in the world. What was the reason you decided to commit a life to someone with kids? I am just curious because a lot of these posts make me nervous and idk if I am the right kind of person for his situation. It seems like some people are able to separate themselves entirely from the situation and some have issues with BM or are more involved.

Advice appreciated.