My son had his bike stolen, most likely due to a failure to properly secure it. Wife and I disagree on whether or not we should go half on another bike.

My son (14 in this week) bikes absolutely everywhere. Because of how much he bikes, we decided to match how ever much he saved and he got a fairly expensive bike back in March. We don't pay for chores so this money was saved from his dog walking job.On Monday he rode his bike up to the park to meet up with some friends. He normally leaves his bike unlocked at the park because he can easily see it from the field they play sports at. He has a lock but doesn't always use it even though we have told him countless times that he needs to. They go to this park at least 2 times a day and normally for a couple hours, so that's a lot of time to leave a bike unlocked even in a safe area. The park became crowded with families and kids, so they decided to ride to a local high school to run around the track and play ultimate frisbee and football on their field instead. My son came home to get the football and met his friends on the track. He said that there were a lot of cars in the student parking section, presumably because of summer school (my kids go to a different high school so I don't know the schedule). The track is up a hill and behind the school so you can not see the bike rack from the track.My son came back to find that his bike was stolen. His was the only one missing and he swears he locked it. The lock was missing too. Given the fact that he isn't used to locking up his bike, I think it's likely that he was in a rush to meet up with his friends and didn't secure the bike. While his bike was the newest, it was not the most expensive nor was it in the best shape of the bikes on the rack because my son is hard on bikes. There were 12 kids in total but only 2 with my son when he parked his bike. One says he thinks my son locked it and the other says she wasn't paying attention.My son wants us to match him again for another bike. He says he'll get a cheaper (quality second hand) bike this time. My wife doesn't think we should match him because we already did that once and he had his bike stolen. She doesn't think he ever locked it and thinks he should buy a bike that he can afford without our help. I think there is a chance he did lock it and one of the summer school kids broke the lock and took the bike. She is more "too bad, so sad" about it and thinks this is a natural consequence. I believe having something stolen sucks and our son hasn't complained about it. He is currently borrowing a friend's bike that is a little too big and a little girly, but he's fine with using that until he gets a new bike. My wife thinks it's fair for him to make a decision between spending what he has on a bike or using the "rental" until he has enough for the bike that he wants. I think he's already compromising by buying a less expensive bike than before and still believe that he could be telling the truth. He has said numerous times, "I know I locked it. I know I did."My wife is huge on responsibility and I could see her point if he had a pattern of irresponsible behavior but he doesn't. He maintains straight As while playing sports year round and we never have to nag him about homework or studying. He ran track for his school and played baseball for a community team this spring. If practices or meets/games collided he made sure to let his coaches know ahead of time. He gets up every morning at 6am to walk dogs for the neighbors and calls ahead if he can't make it. He's obviously not perfect and if I have to remind him one more time to unpack his clothes from a trip we took in June then I might toss him out the window, but he doesn't cause trouble. I don't think going 50/50 on a bike will undermine 14 years of parenting, but I am generally the softer one.Note: We have looked into claiming it under home owners insurance but it isn't worth having it on our record given the deducatable and the fact that we can easily afford a new one. Giving him a bike on his birthday isn't an option since he picked having a large party over a present, but he will be getting money from visiting in laws next weekend. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2XkOrKr