Times are changin', whether anyone likes it or not. Look at the design trends in new airliners if you don't believe me.
Of the guys who pride themselves on disconnecting and hand-flying, and are vocal on maintaining manual flying skills, I've seen an interesting mix of outcomes! Ranging from really well hand-flown approaches, to a near go-round followed by a very long landing at 5am in LHR in a 747.
Included in that is the theory that an extra 5 minutes of hand-flying on a 12 hour sector once a month is somehow going to keep their manual skills up, which is complete crap (as they discover that they're still just as rusty at it as they were the last time).
There are times to do it, and times to not. But most of all, don't bite off more than you can chew, and don't force someone else into biting off more than they can chew.
Kick, stomp, sob into your beer as much as you like, but as previously mentioned on this thread, if you're deeply concerned about it, you can always buy yourself a lightie, or at least pick the right moment to do your once a month hand flown approach.