Batman #373
This story about fear appropriately opens with Jason, not only having a nightmare, but screaming in his sleep. Batman and Robin manage to best the Scarecrow, but even in the next issue, Bruce is checking in on Jay and making sure he doesn't have anymore bad dreams.
Batman #374
"Even if I failed there, lad, I'll always be here to keep you safe."
So, in-universe, you could say that Bruce stopped actively working toward that connection with his Robins because of Jason’s death. He’s protecting himself from going through the grief that he went through after Jason died.
Not to mention that, at first, Tim already had an entire family and life outside of Bruce/Batman/Robin-ing. He didn’t need VENGEANCE, he didn’t need A FAMILY…he saw a job that needed doing and volunteered himself to do it.
But that meant that Bruce got out of practice at dad-ing.
Actually…I think the thing is…Bruce does really well with kids/young people who don’t have anyone on their side. Like Dick/Jay/Cass. And I think it’s because of two things.
1) He holds his parents up on a pedestal. They died when he was really young, and so Mom and Dad are kind of enshrined concepts to him.
2) He actually has a model for “sole adult caretaker” in Alfred. Who obviously wasn’t perfect, but he loved Bruce and he did take care of him.
Between these two things, I think Bruce gets how to be a guardian for those young people. He feels comfortable in that role. He’s not perfect at it, but he has an idea of what he can do, and what he should do.
It’s when kids/young people have active familial connections to other people that Bruce has trouble. He’s not great at that “adult who cares about them as family but who they don’t rely on solely” role. Because, well…Bruce didn’t have a model for that kind of relationship in his life. He’s not comfortable with not being needed.
So he tips more towards “Boss Batman” in…less than ideal ways. (See: Everything that happened with Tim and Steph.) (See also: Dick getting fired once he built a strong relationship with the TT.) (See also: Tim getting dumped in favor of Damian.)
(Lol poor Tim. He very much was a victim of Bruce’s fucked up emotional connections.)
Also, I think it’s worth noting that when Damian—the kid who actually calls him father—dies, Bruce goes absolutely off the rails including psychologically torturing Jason in an ill-advised attempt to figure out how he came back to life.