You'd have to do:
%parent.add(%ctrl);
%parent.bringToFront(%ctrl);
Confusingly, bringToFront and pushToBack are for changing an object's position within another object - so pushToBack sets the object to the last child of the parent while bringToFront sets it to the first child. Therefore you'll actually need to do bringToFront to make it appear behind everything else.