diff --git a/lib/liquid/block.rb b/lib/liquid/block.rb
index f898d6cd..a5c3b1e4 100644
--- a/lib/liquid/block.rb
+++ b/lib/liquid/block.rb
@@ -67,10 +67,8 @@ module Liquid
       all_warnings = []
       all_warnings.concat(@warnings) if @warnings
 
-      return all_warnings unless @children
       @children.each do |node|
-        node_warns = node.respond_to?(:warnings) ? node.warnings : nil
-        all_warnings.concat(node_warns) if node_warns
+        all_warnings.concat(node.warnings || [])
       end
 
       all_warnings
diff --git a/lib/liquid/variable.rb b/lib/liquid/variable.rb
index c119c808..7ad60feb 100644
--- a/lib/liquid/variable.rb
+++ b/lib/liquid/variable.rb
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ module Liquid
     def initialize(markup, options = {})
       @markup  = markup
       @name    = nil
-      @warnings = []
       @options = options || {}
       
 
@@ -29,6 +28,7 @@ module Liquid
         begin
           strict_parse(markup)
         rescue SyntaxError => e
+          @warnings ||= []
           @warnings << e
           lax_parse(markup)
         end