Parents play THE central role in education
Parents set expectations. People in general, and children in particular, live up or down to the expectations set for them. If a parent has health, age-appropriate expectations for a child's learning, then the child will naturally internalize and adopt those expectations. What parents set as the norm is what a child experiences as normal.
Parents nurture curiosity. Children learn to ask questions by engaging in meaningful, honest inquiry during the early years of their lives. If they ask questions and are shut down, they'll learn not to ask questions. If, by contrast, their questions are nurtured, directed, and encouraged, the spark of curiosity will grow into a flame of learning.
Parents cultivate discipline. All learning requires discipline. Even when a child is learning in a game, it involves the discipline of observing the rules of the game or the conventions of language. In many cases learning is challenging, and the discipline required to persevere in a task that is just beyond one's current ability is essential to continued learning.