Effort to learn?

Pic from www.threadlesskids.com

Just yesterday I thought of what parents should do in order to foster learning in their child? As a child, my parents provided books, magazines, and Internet technology (when it arrived), so my access to knowledge was a highway. And how that has shaped me now? I believed I became easily discomforted when I feel a lack of knowledge. But I know that I also seek the shortest way to find information, I am not used to giving much effort in finding knowledge.

And then I compared myself with my friend, whose parents did not provide him with easy access to knowledge when he was a child. In order to read an encyclopedia, he has to borrow from a friend or from library. I think the good thing is, he got used to searching for knowledge with an effort. But sometimes we don't know what to search if we have no clue of what's going on. So the drawback is, probably he still lacks knowledge in a broad sense.
I wonder if parents made a choice when they raised us or they believe a method is the most correct way?