maven-version-plugin

To use maven-version-plugin include the following configuration in your POM :

<plugin>
  <groupId>com.mysema.maven</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-version-plugin</artifactId>
  <version>0.1.0</version>
</plugin> 

Now you can update the version of your POM and of all the children via

mvn version:set -Dversion=<NEW VERSION HERE>