They had a physical fight, 9 & 7. I have sent them to their rooms for the day.

[Bohica]

I am sick of the arguing but physical fights are a massive no you do not & tbh I was quite shocked when it happened.
I have 3 children, all girls & I hate violence so they were packed off to their rooms at 11am and every time they call down the stairs or to one another I'm taking 5 minutes away at bedtime.

Bedtime is 7.30 & they are both currently going to bed at 7.20

I have let them come down stairs for lunch & they have both apologised to one another & have started tidying up their bedrooms but they want to do it togeather.

Should I stick to my word & keep them seperate for the whole day or relent now they have been upstairs lfor 2 hours.

I need them to know that fighting like that is not acceptable in any way shape or form.

I have spoken to both of them seperatly & explained why I am doing this & they have both said they understand.

Oh crikey, I'm not an expert and my children aren't quite as old as yours yet. My instinct is that staying in their rooms ALL DAY is too long for kids aged 9 & 7, and I am awe of you for sticking to the punishment this long!
I'm an only child but just showed your thread to DH and he said that he and his brother were like this as children - trying to rip each other's heads off one minute, then whingeing to play together when one of them was removed from the room for their own safety
So I think it's quite normal, even though the violence is horrifying (I hate it too - although I'm a bit concerned that in completely stopping every smidgeon of violence I might not be allowing my DCs to develop normally!).
Perhaps you could go up to the girls' rooms and tell them that, if they tidy up their bedrooms properly, you will let them play together again in one hour's time ... basically, give an incentive but still make the punishment strict enough that they don't feel that you've caved in, iyswim?

Far too long. 2 hours was far too much imo.

I'd be letting them out too, but they have to do something together for the time you've taken off bedtime, without fighting to win that time back.

My older kids were terrible for it, the best of friends then the worst of enemies

I won't leave them up there all day really but I need them to know that I have had enough. I'm going back to work very soon & will be relying on friends & minders to help out in the school holidays so I need to get this sorted out.
They have always bickered which I sort of expect but you don't go around punching the living daylights out of each other!

How would you deal with it then rainbow?

I'm willing to try anything really.

2 hours is probably enough for them to have had a good think about it. I think let them out now and get on with your day. My kids try occasionally to knock chunks out of each other, and they get separated until they cool down and can apologise and have full understanding of exactly why it's unacceptable behaviour. It's happening less and less as they get older.

Thanks poncy I'm trying to teach them a lesson & make them think about their behaviour. I accept the occasional shove & we use a reward chart which is working really well with other behaviour issues.

It's such bloody hard work

Thank you to everyone for your help.