Bosses can easily be lured into the Parent Trap...I mean the trap where they treat the people who report to them like Children. 

I have heard bosses say they are like parents and the people who report to them are like children. Recently, while listening to a self-help audio book I heard Brian Tracy recommend bosses behave like parents and treat their people like children. 

I disagree.

Sure, I get the importance of being considerate, caring, compassionate...and having a level of sensitivity, sympathy and empathy. I just do not see those qualities as the defining qualities or Parents. First and foremost, at a very early age the vast majority of us learn our parents are authority figures...in fact, figures of absolute authority. 

Many people, likely the majority of people, carry negative memories of parental-authority with them throughout their lives.

I favour the wisdom of Transactional Analysis. 

In the workplace, people are adults.