While a large number of studies emphasizes a negative effect of parental separation on child development, little attention has been paid to the channels of this effect. This paper shows that child and parental time investments could be a driving channel of the negative effect of parental separation. Using detailed time-use diaries from the PSID-Child Development Supplement, I esti- mate an individual fixed effects model and find that being in a single parent family has a negative impact on time spent with at least one parent present. Times with parents together and with fathers (only) are highly affected, but mothers compensate partially for this decrease. Besides, to see if it matters for child development, I estimate cognitive and non-cognitive skills production functions using several specifications. I shed light on the heterogeneity of parental time investments for emotional and cognitive skills. Child and parental time investments appear to be a possible driving channel of the effect of parental separation, especially at stake for children whose parents get separated in their early childhood and children with more highly educated parents.