Silly Question but Please Dont Mind.........

Well, technically, the kids can play in the dog park :-) Seriously, the thing is that playgrounds are a HUGE liability and are expensive to insure because they are what is referred to legally as "an attractive nuisance." Dog parks don't have playground equipment and should have much less liability and expense.

Besides that, dogs aren't allowed everywhere and do need exercise in an appropriate space. Children also require exercise, but they are allowed pretty much everywhere. There are places you can take a child for physical activity: school playgrounds, public parks, McD's, riding bike/walking on sidewalks,etc. I live in a house with a tiny yard. My neighborhood doesn't have a playground; we go to public parks, McD's or the elementay school if we want to use playground equipment.

UPDATE:
By the way, my daughter was injured by another child at an outdoor mall splashground over the summer, requiring 10 stitches to her forehead at a cost of $2,000 to my health insurance. I flat out told the splash ground's insurer that I did not consider them negligent or legally liable for the injury. Nonetheless, my own health insurance contacted me for the injury details and determined that they want the splash ground to repay them and are going after the splashground. I feel bad about that and am majorly peeved at my health insurance carrier, considering the lack of negligence on the part of the splash ground. These kind of things are why play areas get closed down or are so expensive to be insured.

It may be a sign that those buildings or areas are more geared to singles or families with no kids.

When Apartments have a Playset for kids to play on, they may have to have a high liability insurance that the complex has to have in case an accident happens on one of the slides, or swings, etc. That may be the reason that so many don't have play areas for children. Plus the cost of the upkeep and maintenance on the playset.
Try to find an apartment that is close to a public park that you can take your kids to. :-)

I think Anita nailed it with the liability issue. So it is not a matter of more important it is a matter of less expensive to maintain.

"pet parks" or areas to walk/relieve your dog?

Is there a human park NEAR any of the apartments?
Do you have a car? Could you walk to a nearby playground?

Of course pets are not more important than people!
Keep looking. Good luck!

Perhaps the target market for the apartments you looked at are folks with pets and not families with children?

I agree with the poster who mentioned the liability of playgrounds. There isn't only the injury liability, but I can only imagine the complaints about kids not getting along or moms not keeping an eye on their kids, etc.

I think that having a "dog park" is a fairly wise idea. It's an area designated for dogs, which I, personally, would avoid. I don't want to worry about stepping in dog poop. I also don't appreciate going to a public park and being around people who just let their dogs run around "visiting" people. I'm not very big and I don't appreciate being charged by a large 4 legged animal that I'm not familiar with. Dogs having an area to run around away from people who don't want to be around dogs isn't such a bad idea.

I've never lived anywhere that there was a playground on-site and I never had any trouble having places for my kids to play or go on walks, etc. I live in a very small community and often people go to the school in the evenings or on weekends to play basketball or swing. We have a public park within walking distance.

Maybe you can contact a local property management service to ask them about family friendly complexes in your area.

It's worth a try.

Best wishes.