Money or Perks? Which would you choose?

I love my job. My job is less than 5 minutes from my home, and my kids schools. My boss is great and never gives a hard time about sick kids or dr appts and stuff like that. If we're busy and have to work through lunch, he pays and I can eat whatever I want, one time I ordered a steak just to test him and he was like "great get me one too!" He pays for gas if there are errands for me to run. There's more but I won't bore you. The money's not great but I get by. On more than one occasion I have been offered positions that would pay more money but would also involve more stress. Our office is quiet as we are the only ones here during the day. I got a radio in the corner playing jazz and a bit cushy chair. A few of my friends think that I stay here because I'm too comfortable to persue other opportunities. I've had high paying jobs that put me into therapy. I don't mind coming to work every day and I go home happy most days. I also have full medical and dental insurance.
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I would probably stick with that job, at least for as long as I needed the flexibility to take care of the kids -- after all, they're the whole point, right? Certainly you have to make enough money to provide for the children, but having a low-stress job with all those other perks (especially the insurance, but also the convenience & privileges) probably allows you to be a more good-natured, attentive parent. A different job might provide more money, but if you don't go home happy the way you do now, that extra money isn't going to override the importance of the good parenting you're able to provide now. Your friends who think you're too comfortable to pursue other opportunities ... Do they realize there's more to life, more that defines us, than the social status achieved by being ambitiously upwardly mobile in our careers? I mean, if you're happy with your job, why shouldn't you be comfortable with that? They just want the best for you, and probably can't understand why anyone would settle for that job when they could make more money at another job. They don't realize that one of the benefits of this job is that it fits in with (rather than interfering with) your other responsibilities. Making less money is a fair trade for being able to say you like your job, it doesn't make you miserable, and it doesn't interfere with your primary responsibility: parenting. You're one of the lucky few who has perspective and balance -- don't let someone else's greed rub off on you & destroy the balance. Once it's out of balance -- you have to make more money to make ends meet, or you start to feel unsatisfied with your job, or you need a new challenge -- cross that bridge when you come to it. For now, be grateful for that balance & stick with it.
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