Laying the Hammer Down

I laid the hammer down yesterday, and I still don't know if I should have. I know I was too easy on the students for the first few weeks.
I have about a 10 students who I spend the whole day censuring. They all lost recess for a week, and lost their privilege to attend an ice cream party.
They've been scowling at me ever since.

I wrote that last week after one of my hardest days. I've just started the first day of the next week and they are somuch better than they were before.
Now I have to be wary of swinging to far right and over-disciplining them. In that scenario, I have no control and they force me to try and come up with something worse.