Torah is beloved by Klal Yisrael, and when a gadol emerges, it is often due to the mesirus nefesh of the child's parents.
Pirkei Avos (2:8) says, אשרי חנניה בן יהושע 'ר יולדתו, "Reb Yehoshua ben Chananyah, fortunate is his mother!" Ra'v Bartenura explains, "Some explain that when his mother was pregnant, she went to the batei midrashim of her city and asked the Torah scholars to daven for the child in her womb to become a talmid chacham. And from the day her son was born, she didn't take his crib out of the beis medresh, so his ears will hear nothing other than divrei Torah."
Reb Noson Gestetner zt'l writes (עמרם בן vol.1 310) that when his mother was in labor with him, his father, Reb Amram zt'l, requested from the midwife not to speak for the first few minutes after the child is born because he wanted the first sounds the child hears to be the sound of Torah study. When the child was born, Reb Amram was in the next room studying Gemara out loud; these were the first sounds Reb Noson Gestetner heard as an infant.
Shulchan Aruch (Yorah Deiah 245:5) states, "When does one begin teaching Torah to his son? When the child begins to speak, teach him to say יעקב קהילת מורשה משה לנו צוה תורה and the first pasuk of Shema. Continue teaching him gradually until he reaches six or seven years old, and then bring him to a melamed." Because we want the child's first words that he hears and speaks to be words of Torah.
Reb Yitzchak Hutner zt'l attributed his growth in Torah to his mother, who showed him her love for Torah. Once, her husband bought her a new dress. They were poor, so the dress meant a lot to her, but she saved it to put on for the first time when her son made a siyum. This showed her son how much she loves the Torah, encouraging him to put all his efforts into knowing the Torah.
