Hello and ? about neighborhood bully

Hello! I am new here! I came to IV almost a year ago when I discovered I was pregnant with my now almost 3 month old son. Now I see that there are all kinds of boards and thought I'd jump in here since I have an 8 year old daughter. She just turned 8 on February 13.

I do have a question that I thought you all may help me out with. About a year ago, my daughter got into it with a girl down the street. The problem? The girl is older than her by probably 4 years and has discovered DD can be pushed around and taken advantage of. I'm sure it makes the older girl feel better about herself and cooler or whatever. Bottom line is that she's a bully who owned the neighborhood. She's friends with everyone and anyone who isn't her friend is miserable.

Well, right after Christmas, her family moved away. DD has really enjoyed being able to play in the neighborhood without her around. She's made friends all over again and she is playing outside more. Well, their house hasn't sold and word is that she's moving back. DD told me this and rolled her eyes, annoyed.

Now I understand that maybe I should have never let DD play with her, but when they became friends, this girl was really protective of DD and involved her in everything. So when things started to go wrong, I tried to go down and talk to her mother, and found out there is a reason that this other girl was acting out - her mother supports her acting this way and doesn't care how she makes other kids feel and her mother actually told me to keep my kid in our own yard and her feelings wouldn't get hurt.

So now, I can see this family moving back into the neighborhood and taking over again. I can see my daughter having another lonely summer. And I can see her feelings getting hurt all over again.

Luckily, I guess, I work full time, so DD is only home in the evenings and on weekends. I am really leaning towards having her stay clear of this girl - she's not a friend I want my daughter to have, she's not someone I want her to look up to, and this girl is plain disrespectful and rude. But this is going to keep my daughter from having other friends and that really sucks.

Is this one of those "life sucks, get over it" situations? Or is there something more that I can do.

If you've made it this far...thanks!!