Winter blues eh?
While the profession may not be what it used to be, if you were to tally up every profession I'm pretty sure Airline Pilot will still be pretty high up. Even with the automation decisions still have to be made and great responsibility has to be taken. While it used to be one of the best and most respected, it is now a good respectable job. Nothing wrong with that.
I bet Pilots aren't the only group of professionals to long for the golden days back, but I guess it's just progression and eventually (in the distant future I hope) the only jobs to be had will be servicing the robots that have taken every possible occupation.
Even after reading all these doom and gloom outlooks, it's not going to stop me from doing what i've always wanted and if your children have the passion like me, why stop them?
There are much worse things they could do, and having a goal is only going to have a positive effect on their education.