That definitely seems in line for Picard, and is precisely why the scene didn't work for me. It was supposed to show us that Jack tried to connect with his biological father but was rebuffed, despite what he said earlier about never being interesting. It's supposed to make Jack look softer and give us pause to think that Crusher might have been right...but it was such a warm, feel good scene of Picard interacting with young cadets that it just didn't work in execution.
If they had shown us Jack going to Starfleet command and trying to get an appointment with Picard's office only to get a pat response about Jean Luc having an important meeting and can't be bothered to meet with him, only to see Picard palling it up with the cadets then it might have worked better.