addChild in while loop

programming flash
1

I’m trying to import a class that adds an instance of a a MovieClip multiple times, one below the other. I have used this type of loop before and it has worked fine. However, when I use it in an external class it seems to only disply the child added on last iteration.

Here is the code for the external class:

package classes {
import flash.display.*;

public class TheBox extends MovieClip{
    var the_Box:MovieClip = new theBox();
    
    public function TheBox () {
        var a:int = 0
        while ( a < 3 ) {
            the_Box.y = a * the_Box.height;
            addChild(the_Box);
            a++;
        }            
    }
}

}

Here’s the code for the flash poject:

import classes.TheBox;
var myBox:TheBox = new TheBox();
addChild(myBox);

Can anyone tell me why it only shows the child added on the last iteration of the loop?